An XMen Carol
by Valeria Kementari
Summary: After the Schism Cyclops must find himself with his past, present and future!
1. Prologue

The night fell rather quickly upon the mutant nation of Utopia. The skies were clear and a soothing breeze gently rocked the waters of the pacific against the rocky shore. Slowly he walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the railing. His gaze, perpetually hindered by the red tinge of his ruby quartz visor, seemed lost. Even though his eyes were clearly watching the powerful lights of the nearby city of San Francisco he wasn't really watching. The man known as Cyclops was lost in thought, a rather normal occurrence in these dark days. But whatever he thought, whatever his fears and worries were, he never shared.

The other man moved slowly and silently. Such was his precision that he wasn't noticed until he stood right next to him. His back was rigid as he stood tall, more likely than not hovering a few inches from the ground. His metallic helmet floated gently next to him, close to his head in case there was need of it. The man known as Magneto was not going to leave anything to chance.

For a few moments the two men stood silently, gazing into the city. The breeze increased slightly, but it was barely a caress. The silence of the night became too loud to withstand, and Magneto finally spoke.

"Are you happy Scott? Is this what you dreamed when you so idealistically confronted me at every turn?" he asked without changing his gaze, his feet finally touching the hard marble floor.

Scott Summers did not reply instantly. He weighed his options; he shifted his arms slightly upon the railing. "Are you?" he decided to answer, "Are you happy, Magnus?"

"Extremely", the old man replied. "My people are safe, which is what I always wanted. True I might have strayed from my goal through the use of more violent ways, but I always wanted mutants to be safe. You did what I could not, Scott. You saved mutantkind. For now," he stressed the last words ever so slightly, shifting his head slowly to watch the slim man who he tried to kill so many times in the past.

"For now?" Cyclops took the bait, he knew Magneto wanted him to and he felt there was no harm in humoring the old man.

"Yes. For now. I too thought the option of living peacefully in a secluded island was the way to fulfill my dreams. I fought for a heaven for years and many times I almost… lost my way, I almost lost hope. My real question is… can you hold it together Scott? Can you learn from my mistakes? Or are you doomed to repeat them? What I said the other day is not an empty phrase. The reason I came here, the reason I submitted myself to your leadership is because I see a great deal of myself in you. I see the man I wanted to be when I was your age. But life made me bitter, it made me angry and I did terrible things… things I now regret. Will you be able to learn from my past? Will you be able to be the man I should have been?"

Scott Summers did not answer. Silence returned. A wisp of cloud slowly gathered above them. The breeze seemed to grow stronger. As silently as he arrived, the man known as Magneto began to leave.

"Ponder my questions, Scott. Ponder their answers," he said as he left the balcony. And his voice became almost a whisper in the wind. "For the sake of us all…"


	2. Chapter One: Past Ghosts

Everything was white. A vast white emptiness surrounded him. Suddenly he felt a warm hand upon his, and a body embraced him. And the pair of bodies began to sway and slowly dance. There was no music, yet it felt as if the music had just ended but they had continued as if it was still playing… the two holding each close, moving as one… until, finally…

He opened his eyes, and his first response was to shout the name of his dancing partner and to unleash his optic blast towards her, clearly surprised she was there holding him in her long yellow dress. "Madelyne!" he shouted.

The red optic beam of pure energy passed through her as the green eyed beauty laughed. "Surely Scott darling you know better than to try to shoot a ghost," she said with a wicked smile, her red hair shining brightly with the dim light emerging from the fireplace behind her.

And he recognized the surroundings. His grandparent's lodge in Alaska. How could they be there? Why did she look so much like she used to so long ago? He could not understand what was happening. She was real then, she wasn't a ghost. His heart beat loudly against his chest. "What's going on here?" he said, donning his red sunglasses.

"I have been summoned," she said darkly and then she laughed. A cackling laugh that almost pierced his ears. A darkness seemed to erupt from her and the fireplace went out and everything was darker than night suddenly.

"The idea was to defeat N'astirh, Storm, not destroy him!"

"The one could not be accomplished without the other"

"And without him, how do we restore Manhattan to normal? How do we find my son?"

"Who is to say this is not "normal"?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Who appointed YOU Judge, Jury and Executioner?"

"I am Storm. I lead the X-Men. That gives me the responsibility, and the right!"

"Things change a lot, don't they?" said Maddie's voice in his ear. He could feel her arms tightening from behind, even though he knew she was a ghost. But he was less bothered by her presence than by what he was witnessing. He remembered the scene before his eyes very well. The aftermath of the Inferno in which New York was engulfed by her, his own wife, Madelyne Pryor. He remembered the next words as if he had uttered them seconds ago.

"That's not what Professor Xavier taught us!"

"No? And X-Factor is, I suppose, the true exemplar of his dream? Now who is being ridiculous? Vast and terrible powers threaten our world, Cyclops. It is our lot to stand against them."

"Why are we watching this?" he said, grabbing Maddie's hands and removing them from his chest.

Madelyne Pryor floated in front of him, smiling. "I just wanted to remind you, darling. Remind you of how things were," she said sporting her scantily-clad body, her long blue cape billowing behind her.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"I told I had been summoned. To remind you. To test you. To bring back memories you might have forgotten," she said, trying to sound innocent and naïve and failing miserably at it.

"I don't forget the past. I remember this moment quite well, you tried to kill us right after."

"Details," she said waving her hand dismissively. "This is not about what happened… but about you. About your feelings. About your actions… silly husband of mine." She raised her arms high and her cape seemed to grow and envelop them, and suddenly they weren't there anymore.

"They acted in an excess of zeal. If so… I – and I alone – shall determine their appropriate punishment."

"Pardon my asking, m'sieu, but who died an' made you God?"

"Magneto- don't do this! You're playing right into the hands of every demagogue who b'lieves mutants ought'a be wiped off the face o' the Earth!"

"He doesn't care, Rogue. About your words any more than the fact his people just laid waste to the heart of a city—to a hospital no less! Why should the Master of Magnetism—self-appointed leader of mutantkind—care a whit about the lives, and deaths, of ordinary human beings?"

"As always, Cyclops, you see me as you wish. And who knows, perhaps that is as I truly am—about that, you are quite correct, I do no longer care. About the devastation, some might call it fit punishment for a state whose prosperity was built on the backs of mutant slaves!"

Cyclops lowered his head as Maddie laughed next to him. They scene unfolded before their eyes just like the previous one. He clenched his fists with anger. He wasn't sure what hurt him more, if it was Magneto's declarations or his own. "Why are you doing this?"

Madelyne smiled. "I like to hurt you. I don't need psychic powers like that cow's to know you're hurting…" she said looking down upon him.

There was a loud bang. Cyclops turned his head rather fast and felt pain all over his body. Slowly he opened his eyes. He was on the floor next to his bed. He looked up and rubbed the back of his head. He remembered the chat with Magneto on the balcony. He remembered climbing to his empty bed, missing Emma and almost cursing that she was away shopping in Europe. And then he remembered Madelyne. Had it been a dream? Or something else? He removed the thought from his mind. It had to have been a dream. The chat with Magneto triggered those thoughts, those doubts. It had to be.

And then the glass door to the balcony opened suddenly, pushed by a strong wind. And the curtains billowed with fury as a female figure draped in black descended in front of the door. And he knew it could not have been a dream.


End file.
